Under-carriage for containers



Feb. 27, 1962 c. w. ANGELO UNDER-CARRIAGE FOR CONTAINERS Filed March 21, 1960 FIG. 2.

I NVENTOR ATTORNEY FIG. 5.

United States Patent 3,023,019 UNDER-CARRIAGE FOR CONTAINERS Charles W. Angelo, 380 Arden Road, Menlo Park, Calif. Filed Mar. 21, 1960, Ser. No. 16,252 2 Claims. (Cl. 280-35) This invention relates to under-carriages and deals with an under-carriage that may be mounted under various sizes of containers such as garbage cans, refuse receptacles, heavy drums and the like.

The present invention is a continuation of the inventive idea involved in Patent #2,878,028 and provides several improvements thereon.

The primary object of the invention to be hereinafter described and claimed is the provision of a small, compact, durable, light and sturdy adjustable under-carriage that may be detachably mounted under large or heavy containers to transport the same. In its preferred form, my invention is designed to be more or less permanently mounted under these containers and is made adjustable to fit various sizes of containers.

In handling or transporting large or heavy containers, consideration must be given to the load carrying capacity of the under-carriage which must be of heavy duty construction, and preferably, the casters or rollers on the carriage should come within the circumference of the container to provide a better load supporting structure and at the same time facilitate movement of the container through passage ways and doors. In my invention, the supporting rollers all fall within the periphery of the bottom of the container thus supporting the load directly over the rollers.

Another object of this invention is to provide means whereby an under-carriage of the character described may be quickly and easily attached to the bottom of a conventional large container.

A further object is the provision of a detent or brake arrangement which can be set to hold the container in fixed positions on a floor.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds in conjunction with the drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is van elevational view showing my undercarriage under a container.

FIGURE 2 is a view of the same taken in the direction of the arrow 2 in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged plan view of the under carriage.

FIGURE 5 is a front elevation of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged view of the clamping means used for adjusting the carriage to diii'erent sized containers, the arms being fragmentarily shown in dotted lines, and

FIGURE 7 is a view taken on line 77 of FIG URE 6.

The essential features of the carriage have been described and claimed in the above mentioned patent. The present invention is a carrying forward of the same idea and resides in the modifications and alterations made in the previous structure to carry the adjustable dolly into fields for which it is ideally suited but not adapted in its present form.

BfiZEfilQ Patented Feb. 27, isaa Referring to FIGURES 4, 5, 6 and 7 for a detailed description of the changes and additions made in the structure of the patent above noted, it will be seen that the under-carriage generally designated C, in this case consists of three arms 11, 12 and 13. The inner ends of these arms are carried in a clamping arrangement designated in its entirety by the numeral 14, which holds the arms in fixed circumferential positions so they may be extended radially to accommodate the carriage to different sized containers. No detail of the clamp will be shown since it is old having been disclosed in the aforementioned patent, it being deemed sufficient to state that the arms 11, 12 and 13 may be moved longitudinally in the clamp C by loosening the nut 15. On the outer ends of two of the arms, in this instance, arms 11 and 12, I form an upturned curved portion 16 which is adapted to go over the bottom rim of a conventional container and clamp these arms to the bottom of the container. On the other arm 13, I turn up a portion of the outer end of the arm into a straight upstanding member 17 and near the lower end of this member just above the rim of the bottom of a container A seated on the under-carriage, I mount a bolt 18. After the rim 19 at the bottom of the container has been fitted into the curved portions 16 of the arms 11 and 12, the screw threaded bolt 18 is tightened until the carriage is fixed to the container.

The under-carriage is equipped with three swivelable casters suitably mounted near the outer end of each of the arms close to the upturned portions. Under this arrangement, the casters operate entirely under the bottom of the container and leave all space around the bottom of the container free and clear for movement of the container, through doors, passage ways etc.

On the upturned portion 17 of the arm 13, I mount a brake for holding the carriage and container against movement over the floor. 'To render this arrangement also adjustable for different sizes of casters, I make the mounting of the brake vertically adjustable. As shown, this mount comprises a bracket 21 slidably mounted on the member 17. The bracket is composed of a single strip of metal folded back on itself and wrapped around the member 17. A small bolt 22 passes through both strips of metal and holds the bracket in place on the member 17 by friction. On the outer ends of the two strips of metal, I mount a conventional door stop, generally designated S. This may be mounted in the usual manner by two rivets or screws 23, or it may be welded in place as shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 3. In practice, the door stop is used in the usual manner.

In FIGURE 4, it will be noted the arm 12 is knurled as shown at 24. This is for the purpose of giving better friction for holding the arm against movement in the clamp 14. The knurling may be applied on top and bottom of the arm if desired to give added friction.

I claim:

1. An undercarriage for containers comprising three arms, a swivelable caster mounted near the end of each arm, a central clamp for holding said arms in fixed, angular relation to each other, means for adjustably moving each of said arms in said clamp, two of said arms having at the outer ends thereof beyond said casters means for engaging the bottom edge of a container seated on said under-carriage, the third arm having an 3 upstanding portion at the outer end thereof extending substantially parallel to the wall of said container, a screw threaded member mounted in said upstanding portion near the lower end thereof for engaging a lower part of said wall, and means for locking said undercarriage against movement over a floor adjustably mounted on said upstanding portion to adjust the distance of said locking means from said floor.

2. Claim 1 wherein said said last mentioned means includes a clamp adjustably mounted on said upstanding 10 portion, said clamp having a side extension, a member movably mounted on said extension adapted to be moved 4 into a position 'to engage the floor and hold said carriage against movement over said floor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 605,162 Deane June 7, 1898 975,941 Fiset Nov. 15, 1910 1,085,693 McKinney Feb. 3, 1.914 1,251,777 Hosick Jan. 1, 1918 1,642,094 Sviageninov Sept. 13, 1927 2,682,932 Howard July 6, 1954 2,878,028 Long Mar. 17, 1959 

